


What the Future May Hold

by TubularPterodactyl



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-04
Updated: 2018-09-04
Packaged: 2019-07-07 00:14:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15897003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TubularPterodactyl/pseuds/TubularPterodactyl
Summary: An epilogue of sorts. Starts about half a year after the books ends.





	What the Future May Hold

**Author's Note:**

> It's been three months since I read this trilogy and I can't stop thinking about it

      Neil’s intestines felt like snakes trying to strangle his stomach. He didn’t care what Andrew said, he would always dread the Foxes’ mandatory sessions with Bee. Bile rose in his throat as the minutes ticked by. His leg periodically racked with jitters: _run away, don’t twitch too much,_ _don’t leave, run away_ – his shoulder stung and his leg stilled. _Don’t twitch too much_. He imagined the feel of metal teeth in his palm. Felt it tingle like he was tracing the shape of keys onto it. _Don’t leave._

      And then Matt opened the door. He gave Neil’s shoulder a quick squeeze saying, “I’ll wait for you right here,” before sitting down next to him. And that left Neil with really only one option: walk through that door and stay here.

      Bee sat in a plush chair, swirling a cup of hot chocolate, fresh enough for the steam to still be rising.

      “I can make some tea for you if you like.”

      His eyes widened a little. He didn’t think he’d ever get used to people remembering the little things about himself – the details that he could never scrub away. “No thanks,” Neil responded as he sat across from her.

      “Lemonade? Soda? Water?”

      He opened his mouth to decline, but then thought about how easy it would be to drink something instead of answering her questions. Or he could do what Aaron did: sit in complete silence for thirty minutes.

      “Soda’s good with me.”

      Bee went over to a mini-fridge and tossed him a Pepsi.

      “Thanks,” Neil murmured, steeling his nerves all over again.

      “Now, usually, I’d let you talk about whatever you wanted, but it’s your second semester of your sophomore year and you still haven’t declared a major. PSU’s given you some leeway due to,” she paused, considering her next words carefully.

 _She’s seen the news. She doesn’t have to mince words,_ Neil thought, believing that she would do so anyway.

      “-your father and his gang and what happened to you, but they’re not going to be this lenient much longer.”

      Neil nodded a little, letting his gaze settle on the floor.

      “What do you want to do after college?”

      His head whipped up. “Court,” Neil blurted out without a single hesitation. At this point, it was better than a dream. It was a future promised to him by the Queen of Exy (at least, that’s what fans have been calling Kevin ever since he got that tattoo).

      She nodded, taking a sip of her drink. “And after Exy?”

     Neil blinked, because there was never supposed to be an after Exy. Honestly, there was never supposed to be another session, there was never supposed to be a second year of college, there was never supposed to be a right _now_. But ever since there was – since the interrogations and the winning game and the bullet that entered another boy’s skull – Neil has just been happy to be alive and playing Exy with his family. The only future he really thought about was the end of the season. Anything beyond that and anything besides another fake name seemed like a star - too far away to study with the naked eye and too out of reach to grasp.

      Bee stared at him, evidently taking his silence as him thinking and not for the blank it truly was. Another minute ticked by before it seemed to dawn on her how clueless Neil truly was.

      Slowly, she said, “Most Exy players’ careers last about five years. For sports like it, people don’t usually make it into a lifelong occupation. Is there anything else you’d like to do?”

      “…I’m good at languages. But I’ve never thought about using them in a job-sense.” Mostly in an escape-sense. But more recently, an intimate-conversation-sense or a make-fun-of-Kevin-without-him-being-able-to-tell-what-we’re-saying-sense.

      She perked up. “That’s a start. There are a bunch of ways you can apply those skills.”

      “Yeah…” Neil twiddled his thumbs, dropping his gaze again.

      “And, of course, you can always explore new passions. Have any of the classes you’ve been taking grabbed your interest?”

      “Not really.” He glanced at the clock. How had it only been ten minutes?

      “What about the majors the rest of the Foxes are in? Do any of those sound interesting?”

       Neil blinked. He only knew that Kevin was majoring in history – because he's a gigantic dork – and that Dan was majoring in athletic training so that she could be a coach one day. How could he not know what anyone else was studying? Neil mulled over it, sipping his soda and thinking about how much more Exy meant to him, as than any of the majors Palmetto had to often. How Exy must mean much more to all of them that needing to have a major just felt like a distraction. Well, except maybe Aaron. _He’s definitely studying something in the medical field and he definitely cares more about that._

      “Neil,” Bee prodded.

      He jumped at least a centimeter out of his chair. “Uh, sorry. Just thinking about it. But not really. Are you sure I can’t major in Exy?”

      Bee gave him a small smile that Neil assumed wasn’t supposed to be condescending, no matter how much it felt like it was.

      “Just think about it a little more. You’ve done well in your studies so far-“

_Because I have to be. Otherwise I wouldn’t be allowed to play._

      “-and you know that being here is contingent upon you actually completing the college aspect of university. I’ll mark you down for another meeting in three weeks. Hopefully that should enough time to think of something. And don’t worry, you can always change it later.”

      Neil felt like a rock was stuck in stomach.

      He filled the remaining time with Exy. Because that was a thing he did. That was all he wanted to do. Well, that and Andrew.


End file.
